Perhaps the biggest problem currently facing industry in the U.S. is providing computer training and testing. Computer programs are becoming essential to more and more businesses and people. Programs are constantly changing, at an ever increasing rate. For every new program or version of a program released, management must decide either to stay with the old program or adopt the new release. Staying with the old program involves the risk of using a solution that is less efficient, less powerful or simply less popular than that used by the competition. On the other hand, adopting a new program involves costs attendant to such a change, for example, training costs and disruption to business activity by time spent learning and adapting to the new program. Also, companies must train new employees to use the computer systems which the company has adopted. A significant cost of doing business is related to computer training.
Training is critical not just for companies and individuals seeking to learn how to use a given product. Software makers also often create training programs and certifications to ensure that there is an adequate supply of qualified personnel for a product. It is critical for these software makers to create training programs soon after the product is released, and to create examinations for the certifications that are an effective measure of mastery of the product.
A need exists for a type of computer training that is highly effective and yet inexpensive and quick to create. Moreover, a related need exists for a method of evaluating how well the student has actually learned the material covered in the training and whether the student can apply the training to an actual situation.
Various types of training and of learning materials now exist. The main modes of instruction now available are textbooks, lectures, videos, or computer based learning (or some combination thereof). Without going into an exhaustive analysis of all possible types of training and combinations of learning methods it may be simplest to focus on what factors make it easier for users to learn quickly in a situation where technological change is both rapid and urgent. The following are the main points to be considered by management or by individuals when choosing a training or learning method:    1. Is the material self-paced? If so, this means that classes do not have to be scheduled, and people who can learn quickly are not held up by those who cannot.    2. Can the learning take place at the student's choice of location? It is an advantage if the training can be done at the student's desk or office rather than requiring travel to a special location.    3. Is the material affordable, i.e., is it within available budget? Is there a more cost-effective training tool?    4. Is the material available? Obviously, even if it has been decided that video instruction is best, this will not be relevant if a video for the requested subject matter has not yet been created or is otherwise unavailable for use.    5. Is the material in a standard format? The more familiar the format is, the less time will be required for learning, and the more receptive students will be.    6. How effective is the material? A printed book might be cheap and usable as self based training, but a book might be less effective than a video, because a well made video can demonstrate a technique in a computer application rather than simply describing it.    7. Is the training interactive? Active participation is generally a more effective tool as the student must actually exercise the skills.    8. Is the training verifiable? Does the training provide testing which demonstrates that the student has mastered the subject?
When comparing textbook instruction, lectures, video instruction and computer based instruction, a number of comparative advantages and disadvantages with respect to the above points can be seen. Lecture based training has numerous disadvantages which are obvious from consulting the above list. Simple printed instructional matter is the cheapest to create and distribute. Students can consult a text at any time and no special equipment is needed for viewing. However, printed instructional matter by itself is generally not as effective as is a more interactive media.
Videos and some types of interactive computer tutorials have great advantages. (Examples of interactive computer tutorials are tutorials created with Macromedia Courseware or Director. Examples of videos are those made by Keystone Learning Corporation.) Much of current software consists of using a graphical user interface. A demonstration of this software via a video or computer-based format is far more effective than reading a description or attending a lecture. Videos have an advantage over computer-based tutorials in that they tend to be cheaper to create than interactive computer tutorials. Videos have a disadvantage in that they are not interactive. Videos and most interactive tutorials have a significant disadvantage when compared to a book: videos and computer tutorials do not have random access (you can flip a book open to any page, but you cannot easily jump directly to any spot in a video or in an interactive computer tutorial that resembles a video).
Fairly recently publishers have come up with a format that combines all the advantages of a book with most of the advantages of a video or interactive tutorial, and thus has unique advantages when considered with respect to the points enumerated above. This format consists of small amounts of text with snapshots of a computer screen (screenshots). Tasks are described step by step. Each step has a corresponding picture.
Some examples of this format are:
Easy Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional (Que Easy Series) 2000 Shelly O'Hara ISBN 0789721872
Directory 7 For MacIntosh and Windows (Peachpit Visual Quickstart Series) Andre Persidsky ISBN 0201353989
Master Office 2000 Visually (IDG 3-D Visually Series) Ruth Maran et al ISBN 0764560506
For the purpose of this explanation, we will call such books (books in which computer tasks are visually described through actual screenshots) “visual tutorials”.
Printed visual tutorials still have some disadvantages. They are expensive for organizations or individuals to create. They are usually not in electronic form, so they are not electronically searchable and cannot be easily shared.
Currently, it is possible for users to manually create a kind of HTML (hypertext markup language) visual tutorial using tools such as Microsoft Front Page. However, inserting a screenshot into a web page requires first using the PrtScrn key to copy the screen to the clipboard, using a graphics program to take the screenshot from the clipboard and transfer it to a PNG (portable network graphics) file, and then using FrontPage to insert the screenshot into a single webpage. The page numbers and links must be created manually, depending on the web page creation software being used. The user must manually change the screen resolution if so desired. This visual tutorial creation method is laborious and does not result in a standard layout and design, since each user has to decide how to create the links from one page to another, where to put the text, how to distribute the book, and so on. Further, most users do not know how to manually create a visual tutorial as described, and they also may not have the required graphics and HTML creation software installed on their machines. The present invention not only makes all steps in the process of creating a visual tutorial automatic, it also allows users to create formats for the books separately, and then create from these formats multiple versions of a page from a single master page. Further, this page can be created in any industry standard format, including RTF and PDF, not just HTML.
In addition to tutorials, there has been a need for an effective test method for truly evaluating whether a person has mastered a subject such as networking or systems analysis. Further, certain companies conduct certification testing which is to test whether the student possesses the basic ability to perform certain jobs. This testing has generally been conducted on a multiple choice format. Such a format does not necessarily establish that the student can perform the required actual work. Also, since there are a limited number of questions and there are sources which collect and distribute the questions, students are able to study for the test without comprehending the subject. Thus, there has been a need for a method to test students which more closely approximates the actual situation and requires the student to actually manipulate the programs for which certification is sought.
There is a need to provide a tool for creating and distributing visual tutorials that makes it easy for even the average user to create and distribute such tutorials, and allows such tutorials to be created in either electronic or printed form, and in multiple designs and formats. This is what the present invention does. The present invention also extends the visual tutorial format to take advantage of all of the possibilities inherent in an electronic, online media as opposed to the printed media, and in an interactive media (a computer program) as opposed to a static media (a printed page). One such extension is to allow the visual tutorials to be used as interactive test. That is, the present invention creates a visual tutorial which is more than just a visual tutorial in electronic form. Thus, the present invention is one which allows users both to easily create visual tutorials (thus having advantages over existing means of creating such tutorials) and is also one which extends the possibilities of the visual tutorial format.